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WHAT DO YOU KNOW

ABOUT PETROLEUM
ENGINEERS?
Marvin Amadi
Technical Writing
Rick Kempa
November 13, 2014

What do you know about petroleum engineers?

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WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PETROLEUM ENGINEERS

Introduction
I.

II.

III.

General Overview of Petroleum Engineers

a. What is petroleum?
b. What does Engineering mean?
c. What do Petroleum Engineers do and what are their specialties?
d. Why are Petroleum Engineers important?
Requirements
a. Education
b. Experience
c. Skills and Traits
Pay and Demand
a. Salary
b. Benefits
c. Working hours
d. Advancement

Conclusion

Introduction
The worlds demand for oil and natural gas is recurrent. To find new supply of these vital
resources, petroleum engineers are depended on. Petroleum Engineers work in subsurface
engineering activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can either be crude oil or
natural gas, in order words petroleum engineers get petroleum out of the ground and to the
refinery. Petroleum engineers travels around the world in search of reservoirs containing oil or

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natural gas, they work with geologists and other specialist applying technical skills and
knowledge to extract it.

General Overview of Petroleum Engineer

What is petroleum?
Petroleum comes from the Latin word Petra and Oleum. Petra meaning rock and Oleum meaning
oil. Petroleum is a thick black yellowish liquid made up of hydrocarbon, which is a combination
of hydrogen and carbons. Petroleum could exist as liquid or gas, when it exists as a liquid it is
referred to as crude oil and when it exists as a vapor it is referred to as natural gas. The formation
of petroleum begins when dead organisms (prehistoric plants and animals) forms underneath the
earths surface usually that of sedimentary rocks in locations commonly referred to as reservoirs,
and forms into petroleum over time due to intense pressure and heat. The petroleum that forms
over time is then drilled out of the reservoir which is simply the location at which the petroleum
was discovered. After the drilling process, petroleum goes through several physical and chemical
processes which later transforms it into various types of consumer products such as lubricant oil,
kerosene, gasoline (petrol), and fuel. Petroleum is not evenly distributed around the world, it can
be found in many regions in an unequal amount. The chart below shows the distribution of
petroleum around the region.

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Petroleum South
Distribution
around the region
America; 5%
Asia-Pacific; 9%
continentsOil Availability; 31%
Africa; 10%

North America; 12%

East Europe; 15%

Middle East; 18%

Source: U.S Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics, Eurostat.

What does Engineering mean?

Engineering in general is the application of math and science to solve problems. Engineering
contribute to various advancement such as technological devices and application, and drastically
improve the lives of people around the world by making these devices and applications more
efficient and effective. Engineering opens part ways to change the world, whether be creating
sustainable solutions, picking up new ways to produce energy, designing safer buildings,
developing new medicines, improving the way that we communicate and travel, creating faster
computers and smart phones, discovering better ways on extracting petroleum from the ground
and several more ways to make use of petroleum. Engineering influences several aspects of our
lives and simply makes the world a better place.

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What does petroleum engineers do and what are their specialties?

Petroleum engineers apply technical skills and knowledge to solve engineering challenges. They
work in sub-surface engineering activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can
either be crude oil or natural gas. In other words, they get petroleum out of the ground and into
the refinery and making sure there is minimal impact on the environment. Petroleum engineers
work with sophisticated instruments and computer program. They also use advanced
mathematics and physics to build complex models to better understand and interpret the oil field.
This helps them to keep the oil flowing. Petroleum engineers are needed throughout the world to
maintain existing field and to develop new oil field. According to the Top Petroleum
Engineering Schools article, due to how complicated Petroleum engineering is, it has led to
three major sub-disciplines; drilling engineers, production engineers, and reservoir engineers
(Top Petroleum).
Drilling Engineers: Drilling engineers specialize in drilling, completion and work over
operations. Drilling engineers drill deep into sedimentary rocks to find oil deposits. Completion
means to prepare the well with steel pipe, cement the pipe in place, and to perforate the pipe in
the oil zone so that the oil can flow to the surface. Drilling engineers also re-drill old wells to
improve efficiency. A drilling engineers job is basically to be out in the rig, and supervise the
drilling of a borehole deep into the earth, to access rock formation that contain oil and gas. The
drilling engineer is responsible for preparing a well to be placed on production.
Production Engineers: Production engineers specialize in studying petroleum wells
characteristics, which is the boring in the earth that the petroleum will be extracted through.
Production engineers also specialize in understanding a wells characteristics which helps them
maintain wells flow over a period of time. They use various chemical and mechanical procedures
to maximize oil recovery from the petroleum well. A production engineers job is to figure out

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which rock formation has the oil and gas in it and figure out the most effective way to produce
oil and gas and bring it to the surface.
Reservoir Engineers: Reservoir engineers design and implement the planned development of an
oil field. They identify the size of an oil field by measuring its boundaries and its depth. They use
sophisticated instruments to determine where the drilling program will commence. They
calculate oil reserves, which is the amount of oil still in the reservoir. Reservoir engineers are
responsible for evaluating the quantity of oil and gas down in the earth. They do a lot of
computer work, and a lot of calculation. They use a lot of reservoir simulation to try to simulate
how oil and gas is flowing in the rock, and look at optimum ways and strategies to get oil and
gas out which could be drilling additional wells or flooding the formation with water or carbon
dioxide to help enhance the recovery of that reservoir.

Why are Petroleum Engineers important?

Petroleum is an extremely needed resource, in producing supplies that are needed in the todays
world. Petroleum is depended on without knowing what is associated with it. To extract this
needed resource, petroleum engineers are required to discover where the petroleum can be found,
drill the petroleum, refine it and produce it into a more acceptable form. Petroleum Engineers are
important because petroleum is needed to produce products such as lubricants, paints, clothes,
plastics, synthetic rubber and fiber, detergent, waxes, agricultural purposes, fuels for
transportation (gasoline), fuels for generating electricity, and jet fuels (kerosene). The chart
below shows the percentage of various products made from petroleum.

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Products Made from a Barrel of Petroleum

10%

Gasoline

4% 3%

Diesel Fuel & Heating Oil

Other Products
45%

17%

Jet Fuel
Liquefied Petroleum
Asphalt

22%

Source: U.S Department of Energy.

Requirements
Education
A Petroleum Engineer requires a bachelors degree in petroleum engineering. A further degree
such as Masters Degree in Petroleum Engineering can be quite rewarding in the advancement of
ones knowledge and salary, but not specifically required. Petroleum Engineering deals a lot with
solving problems which makes the curriculum of petroleum engineering to base solely on
sciences and mathematics. A Petroleum engineer aids in locating where petroleum could be
found and also assists in the extraction process. And that is why classes that expands ones
knowledge in problem solving and education about the earth are emphasized, some of these
classes includes math, physics, chemistry, dynamics, and geology. Additional classes to expand
ones social potential are also taken such as communication classes, economics and classes in
language (Bagley). After completing the general classes, more specialized and advanced classes

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are required which will enable a petroleum engineer to partially experience what he or she will
be facing out in a real life experience. These specialized and advanced classes includes
petroleum production, well drilling, fluid flow, reservoir analysis, and reservoir fluids (Bagley).
According to Kehinde Ovunda, a Petroleum Engineer for BP, computers play a big role in the
career of Petroleum engineers which is why a person that is aspiring in pursuing a career as a
petroleum engineer should be efficient at operating a computer (Ovunda). Petroleum Engineers
are continuously learning because petroleum engineering is a wide field which deals with a lot of
different operations which changes as technology gets better.

Experience
Getting several years of experience (internships) before graduating is just as important as the
schooling when looking forward to becoming a petroleum engineer. Getting an internship or
several internships is the best way to test drive the industry and test drive the company. Craig
Thompson, a Professor in Petroleum Engineering said during his interview Internships helps a
person that is yet to become a petroleum engineer to see what the company looks like and how
he or she fits into the culture of the company and also get the chance to see if that person will
like the work that he or she will be doing as a career and the petroleum industry in general
(Thompson). Internships helps students acquire new skills, formulate a post college goal, get real
world experience and start to build a portfolio to highlight their skills and put their course works
to practice. Undergraduate student that obtains an internship prior graduating develops their
social interaction and teaches them how to manage difficult circumstances, stress and other
unfavorable circumstances. An internship provides an opportunity for an undergraduate student
in petroleum engineering to find a specialty to focus on within the three different disciplines
there are in petroleum engineering. Craig Thompson emphasized the importance of getting an

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experience during his interview saying, acquiring an experience before graduating is very good
because, students in petroleum engineering with an experience in the petroleum industry have a
much better chance at acquiring a full time position upon graduation (Thompson).

Skills and Traits

A petroleum engineer should also have certain skills and traits outside of what is being thought in
class, these skills enables one to be a better engineer and more productive to his or her company,
the petroleum industry and the entire world. Being a good communicator is a very good skill to
have as a petroleum engineer since petroleum engineers work with several other people around
the petroleum industry such as geologists, chemical engineers, accountants, technicians, drillers
and so many other individuals that assist in the production of oil and natural gas. Another skill to
have is the ability to be creative and to be able to think of new innovative things and suggest
possible solutions in existing problems. Since the petroleum industry is developing rapidly and
there are new ways to research ideas and better technological advancement, it will be
encouraging for a petroleum engineer to be open and ready to learn new ideas, techniques and
the technology used to be more productive to the industry (Ovunda), Says Kehinde Ovunda
during her interview.

Pay and Demand

Salary
Petroleum Engineering is highly demanded, due to the high request of oil and natural gas which
makes petroleum engineers earn a high salary compared to other professions. According to the
Career Spotlight: Petroleum Engineers by Gene Lockard, Petroleum engineers is one of the
top careers, and the salary of petroleum engineers is significantly higher than that of the national
average for all salaries and also position is available all around the world and demand for

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petroleum engineers is good (Lockard). In The Wall Street Journal article titled A Gusher for
Oil Grads, Gold Russell explains how petroleum engineering graduates salary increases due to
the demand of oil and natural gas, and he also says top petroleum engineering graduates should
expect a starting salary of $80,000 to $110,000 plus benefits and other perks (Gold). Gold
Russell, also said petroleum engineering is among the top paying careers around the world and
is the top paying sector in engineering with a median pay of $132,320 per year, in other words
$63.62 per hour (Gold). The following charts below shows the average starting salary for
engineering graduates and the median annual salary of petroleum engineers compared to other
engineering fields.

Engineering Average Starting Salary

Average Salary

$90
$80
$70
$60
$50
$40
$30
$20
$10
$0

Types of Engineering
Engineering Average Starting Salaries

Source: Engineering Degree 101

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Engineering Median Annual Salary

$140,000
$120,000
$100,000
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
Annual Salary

$0

Types of Engineering

Source: Engineering Degree 101

Benefits
Since petroleum engineering plays an essential role in the oil and natural gas production industry,
this allows petroleum engineers to receive the same benefits as other professionals in their
various companies. These benefits includes medicals such as vision and dental insurance, paid
holidays and vacations, retirement plan , paid sick leave and life insurance. These benefits vary
due to what company the petroleum engineer is working for.

Working hours
The working hours of a petroleum engineers depends on the discipline or the aspect of that
engineer. The working hours of a drilling engineer will vary with that of a reservoir engineer and
that of a production engineer. The average day of a petroleum engineer is anything but average, a
drilling engineer is typically working out in the rig for a 12 hour shift unless something goes

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wrong which could cause the drilling engineers day to be longer. A production engineers job is a
little bit more stable, they usually work 8 to 10 hour a day since they are responsible for
producing oil and gas, designing the equipment and maintaining it. The reservoir engineers job
is more of an office job, sometimes they are in the field testing wells and gathering data and they
mostly work for 8 hours unless there is more task at hand, then they are putting in extra hours in.

Advancement
While in the career of petroleum engineering, there are several advancement such as obtaining
more experience and having a broad sense of what is being done in the petroleum industry. As
more experience is obtained, the salary of a petroleum engineer increases over time. There are
other advancement outside of getting experience while working, such as options to further their
education and training in pursuing a higher level degree which could be a masters degree or a
doctoral degree.

Conclusion
Petroleum Engineering is a very diverse profession, where you get to work with so many
different people all around the world. The diversity causes petroleum engineer to work with
people of different background of education, different culture which might involve traveling or
even relocating to a different country. Since petroleum can be found not only in the United States
but also in other countries around the world. Bill Tammeus in his article The guide to college
majors in petroleum engineering says, petroleum engineers travels around the world and
sometimes lives in a different country which could be wherever oil and natural gas can be
discovered and drilled(Tammeus).

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Works Cited
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Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. N.p., 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 03 Nov.
2014.
"Drill for Success: Petroleum Engineer: Petroleum Engineering Is One of the Highest Paid
Qualifications in the Engineering Sector." The Financial Times Limited. Diligent Media
Corporation, Ltd., - Research, Archives &Syndication, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
"Engineer Salary How Much Do Engineers Get Paid?" EngineeringDegrees101com. N.p., 14
Feb. 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
"Engineer Surplus American Engineers Must Fight for Survival." American Engineering
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"Field of Study: Petroleum Engineering." Field of Study: Petroleum Engineering. Mn
Manufacturing Careers, 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
Gold, Russell. (2008, Feb 21). A Gusher for Oil Grads; As Energy Prices Soar, Petroleum
Engineers Get Top Dollar. Wall Street Journal. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
"How to Become a Petroleum Engineer." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. N.p., 8 Jan. 2014. Web.
03 Nov. 2014.
Lockard, Gene. "Career Spotlight: Petroleum Engineers." RIGZONE -. N.p., 30 Aug. 2013. Web.
03 Nov. 2014.
"Louisiana Department of Natural Resources." Where Does My Gasoline Come From? N.p., 12
Jan. 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.
Ovunda, Kehinde. Telephone interview on Petroleum Engineering. 2 Dec. 2014.
"Petroleum Oil and Natural Gas." Energy4me. N.p., 2 Apr. 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.

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"Petroleum Engineer Jobs and Careers | EducatingEngineers.com.Petroleum Engineering

Careers. N.p., 3 Nov. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
"Spotlight on Petroleum Engineers." Oil and Gas Journal, 104, 1. PennWell Corporation, 16 Jan.
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